1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a splice connector for joining or connecting sections of an electrical busway.
In a preferred embodiment, the splice connector includes four horizontally and vertically spaced u-shaped busbar connectors with internal contact louvers, and two insulating housing sections, each accommodating two of the bus bar connectors. Horizontal spacing and isolation of the individual bus bar connectors in each of the housing sections is provided by an internal vertically-extending separating wall, while vertical isolation is provided by a separate planar spacer that is positioned between the housing sections.
2. Description of the Related Art
The rigorous demands of mission critical data center sites require methods to quickly disconnect and reconnect equipment without removing power from any other equipment. One way to meet these demands is to supply power via a modular “Continuous Bus Power Distribution System” (CBusPDS), which uses busways mounted overhead, on a wall, or under a raised floor to provide continuous power to equipment or equipment cabinets via plug-in power taps that can be inserted into the busways anywhere along their length. The overhead or wall mounted CBusPDS configuration allows users/installers to quickly insert or relocate plug-in power taps for added or replacement equipment, and to quickly remove the power taps for repair or replacement as necessary. An example of such a busway is the PDI PowerWave Bus System™ available from Smiths Power and described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,819,676. Other examples of busways with removable power taps include is Universal Electric Corporation's Starline® Track Busway, described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,521,837; 6,517,363; and 6,296,498, and the busways or tracks disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,336,097; 5,449,056; 6,039,584; 6,105,741; 6,296,498; 6,521,837; 6,517,363; 6,805,226; 7,374,444; 7,468,488; and 7,470,861; and U.S. Patent Publication No. 2008/0302553.
In general, electrical distribution systems in the form of busways or tracks are made up of multiple straight, angled, and branching sections that can be connected together to fit different installation configurations. The electrical connectors that are used to join the sections are referred to as splices and generally include a set of connectors for electrically connecting together respective busbars in the busway sections to be joined. Examples of busway splices are disclosed in the above-cited U.S. Pat. No. 7,819,676, as well as which describes the POI PowerWave Bus System™, as well as U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,181,102; 3,189,679; 3,475,567; 5,609,254; 4,179,174; 5,760,339; and 5,854,445; 6,870,103; 6,983,742; and 7,678,995; and U.S. Patent Publication No. 2013/0171849.
In addition to connecting busbars in respective busbar sections, busbar connectors may be used in contexts that do not involve busway splices, such as the motor drive connection system of U.S. Patent Publication No. 2012/0264317, which pairs of u-shaped bus bar connectors housed in a single insulator housing, the bar connectors being mutually separated by an inner, vertically extending wall of the insulator housing. The arrangement of the present invention also utilizes an insulating housing with a vertically extending separator wall, but the insulting housing is arranged in upper and lower sections, and the splice includes a number of additional features not included in the arrangement of U.S. Patent Publication No. 2012/0264317, such as the use of multi-contact louvers in the individual busbar connectors and the inclusion of a vertical separator plate, which make the splice connector of the present invention especially suitable for use in modular power distribution systems such as the PDI PowerWave Bus System™.